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With 13 school districts challenging the constitutionality of Florida's new “schools of hope” law, the State Board of Education on Wednesday used the law to select 11 low-performing public schools to receive additional funding.

The schools will qualify for up to $2,000 in extra per-student funding over the next two years to carry out improvement plans that will include efforts such as tutoring, after-school programs, counseling and teacher development.

With 335,000 insurance claims representing $1.9 billion in property losses, Hurricane Irma has already exceeded the claims and losses from the two hurricanes that pummeled Florida last year, the state Office of Insurance Regulation reported Monday.

The Florida Board of Education on Wednesday approved a 2018-2019 budget request that includes a $200 per-student boost in the K-12 system, increased funding for the 28 state colleges and construction money for public schools, colleges and universities.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a key player in Florida's decades-old legal fight with Georgia over water flow in the Apalachicola River, has weighed into the pending case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

While Adam Putnam raised another $2 million in June for his gubernatorial campaign, the three leading Democratic contenders hoping to succeed Gov. Rick Scott could not even match half of that total.

Putnam, the Republican agriculture commissioner, raised more than $1.3 million for his “Florida Grown” political committee last month, while he collected another $795,000 for his regular campaign account, new financial reports show.

His Democratic opponents raised a combined $690,000 last month, according to the state Division of Elections.